Douglas Kelley
Douglas Kelley | |
---|---|
Born | Douglas McGlashan Kelley August 11, 1912 Truckee, California, US |
Died | January 1, 1958 , US | (aged 45)
Spouse | Alice Vivienne Hill (m. 1940) |
Children | 3 |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Columbia University |
Thesis | Rorschach studies in acute experimental alcoholic intoxication (1941) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Psychiatry, Criminology |
Institutions | Wake Forest School of Medicine |
Notable works |
|
Military career | |
Service/ | United States Army Medical Corps |
Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
Lt. Colonel Douglas McGlashan Kelley (11 August 1912 – January 1, 1958) was a
Life and career
Kelley was born in
In 1942 he was called to duty in the
Upon honorable discharge in 1946, Kelley was appointed Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the
Kelley was portrayed by Stuart Bunce in the 2006 BBC docudrama Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial, which depicts the events at Nuremberg,[3] as does Jack El-Hai's nonfiction book The Nazi And The Psychiatrist.[4]
Death
Kelley committed suicide in front of his wife, father and oldest son on New Year's Day 1958 during a family gathering to watch the Rose Bowl game on television. He died by ingesting potassium cyanide as had Nazi leader Hermann Göring, whom Kelley had come to know during his psychiatric evaluation at Nuremberg. According to Psychology Today, Kelley was alcoholic and despondent by that time and had a "history of dark moods"; he had also expressed admiration "for Göring’s control over his own death".[5] Neither his son nor wife could shed light on the motivation for the suicide. In an interview, son Doug Kelley recounted the circumstances: "He was cooking dinner, burned himself and exploded. The next thing we knew, he was on the stairs saying he was going to swallow the potassium cyanide and that he'd be dead in 30 seconds".[6][7] He did as threatened and died in the bathroom, leaving no suicide note.[8]
Publications
- 22 Cells in Nuremberg. A Psychiatrist Examines the Nazi Criminals. London: W. H. Allen, 1947.
- Bruno Klopfer: The Rorschach Technique. A Manual for a Projective Method of Personality Diagnosis. With Clinical Contributions by Douglas McGlashan Kelley; introduction by Nolan D. C. Lewis. Yonkers-on-Hudson: World Book Comp. 1942.
Further reading
- Jack El-Hai : The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2013, ISBN 161039156X
References
- ^ "Nazi Criminals Were Given Rorschach Tests at Nuremberg". europe.newsweek.com. May 16, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
- ^ Chesler, Caren (October 1, 2014). "Rudolf Hess' Tale of Poison, Paranoia and Tragedy". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
Before the historic war-crimes trials in Nuremberg, Kelley spent five months interviewing the 22 captive defendants at length
- IMDb.com. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
- ^ Fleming, Mike, Jr. (November 30, 2012). ‘The Nazi And The Psychiatrist’ Rights Acquired By Mythology Entertainment. Deadline Hollywood
- ^ Ramsland, Katherine (August 17, 2017). "Professional Suicide". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
During the game, Kelley and his wife were in the kitchen preparing the meal. They got into one of their frequent fights. He ran up the steps and slammed the door. When he came down, he had the poison in his hand.
- ^ Staff report (January 2, 1958). U. S. PSYCHIATRIST IN NAZI TRIAL DIES; Coast Police Say Dr. Douglas Kelley Swallowed Capsule of Potassium Cyanide The New York Times
- ^ Ryan, Joan (February 6, 2005). Mysterious suicide of Nuremberg psychiatrist. San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ Ramsland, Katherine (August 17, 2017). "Professional Suicide". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
External links
- Guide to the Douglas McGlashan Kelley Papers via Online Archive of California
- Douglas McGlashan Kelley, Criminology: Berkeley via University of California